POP!
by PrancingTiger86
Summary: Prowl discovers an immature child game that quickly becomes the bane of his existence, especially when the other Autobots including their Prime joins in on the fun.


**Title**: POP!

**Rating**: K+

**Universe**: Movie 07 verse

**Warnings**: Profanities, mention of slash pairing, Galloway bashing *snickers* sorry can't help it, I can't stand the guy

**Characters**: Prowl, Jazz, Sam, Mikaela, Miles, youngling Bluestreak, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker and ensemble

**Summary**: Prowl discovers an immature child game that quickly becomes the bane of his existence, especially when the other Autobots including their Prime joins in on the fun.

_Blah – sound effects_

_::Blah:: Bond Communication_

Complete and utter crack, its amazing what the mind will think of when one is stuck with a writer's block *glares at the Renascentia plot bunnies who have gone on vacation without me*

_POP_

Prowl frowned and glanced up from the data-pad he was reading in his hands when he heard the rather strange noise, he had been on his way back to his office when his audio receptors had detected the sound. He stopped in his tracks to see if he could hear the noise and locate its origin just in case it was a piece of equipment that required the attention of the base engineers. When it didn't come again, the tactician shook his head slightly wondering briefly whether he was just hearing things until the sound came again not far from his position. However this time he heard voices which he quickly associated with Sam, Mikaela and Miles. The frown upon his facial plates deepened at that as he began walking in the direction he was certain they were in, normally the three young adults would 'hang out' as Jazz labelled it, in the recreation room, but for some reason they were in one of the corridors instead.

_POP_

"Now that was just crap!" Prowl heard Miles exclaim from just around the corner, the Dodge Charger was now completely puzzled about what they were up to until he stepped round the corner. However nothing could prepare him for what he saw; a few metres down the corridor were the three humans in question. Both Miles and Mikaela were sat on opposites of the large hallway whilst Sam was lying upon his front, arms extended in front of him and a strange tube held in one hand, a look of determination appeared upon the young boys face before his free hand hit the coloured tube he was holding with enough force that the top popped off and flew down the corridor. Prowl raised a single optic ridge when the coloured top rebounded off one of his feet and skidded across the floor to rest behind the other two coloured tops he had failed to notice until now.

The Witwicky boy raised himself up on his elbows and glared at the 2IC "Thanks Prowl."

The tactician simply shook off the glare as he made his approach, he stopped to collect the three coloured tops before making his way to the three humans "What are you doing?"

"Popping the caps off these tubes to see how far they go." Miles replied as he waved his sweet tube around.

The Dodge Charger frowned as he handed the caps back to Sam "For what purpose?"

"It's fun." Mikaela told him, she hadn't been too thrilled with the prospect of playing the little 'game' at first when the boys had suggested it, but all Sam had to do was tell her he could beat her and her competitive streak immediately emerged. That and Sam has offered her 'favours' which suddenly had Miles shouting 'TMI' at the top of his voice whilst clasping his hands over his ears.

"Fun?" Prowl asked, he could feel his logic circuits beginning to ache as they failed to see the reason why tubes made from cardboard which would normally hold candy, could be fun in any shape or form, especially when there were other forms of entertainment upon the base.

"Yea." Miles piped up as he moved into the centre of the corridor and laid down upon his front, it was then that the tactician saw that the humans had even placed down a line composed of masking tape upon the polished surface of the floor.

"I believe it would be safer for you to either conduct this game in the recreation room or outside." The tactician told them.

"Well one its raining outside." Sam began as he nudged Miles with his foot in a gesture to tell him to hurry up and take his shot "and two the twins are in the rec. room fighting over the remote control with Ironhide." The Dodge Charger refused to face palm at that and settled for venting a deep sigh of frustration out of his intakes instead, Prowl knew he would have to go and break up the fight before a human got caught in the crossfire, but the tactician knew better than to simply step in the way when the weapons specialist was delivering 'punishment' to the twins. He just hoped that a certain little grey mechlet wasn't in the same room as them or there would be trouble, he would have to check with Hound and get his location as the tracking specialist was currently watching over the youngling.

The Dodge Charger glanced down at the humans when he heard a _POP_ as Miles fired his shot "I suggest you move your game to a much safer location, perhaps the top hangar or one of the storage areas."

"Oh man really?" Sam asked in a rather whiny voice "we've got a good game going here."

"I am simply looking out for your safety as the twins and Ironhide rarely keep their fights to the recreation room." And to prove his point the four of them suddenly heard shouting not too far from them followed by the distinct sound of a weapon being discharged. The humans scrambled up from the floor and took cover behind Prowl just as Sideswipe skidded round the corner, nearly crashing into the wall in his haste, the tactician was just about to open his mouth plates to say something when the red Lamborghini beat him to it.

"No time, no time, no time." The front-liner said as he rushed past before disappearing around the corner. Sunstreaker was the next to come scrambling round the corner followed rapidly by Ironhide who looked just about ready to tear someone to pieces, the Dodge Charger was just about to open his mouth plates to say something to the weapons specialist but was beaten to it by the black GMC Top kick Truck.

"Let me slag the twins now then you can hand out the punishments later." Ironhide told him as he fired off a round that scored the corner of the corridor and hit the wall on the other side just as the gold front-liner disappeared around it.

Prowl vented a sigh as he glanced down at the humans "I suggest you return to the recreation room, I particularly don't fancy writing up a report let alone informing your parents about how you got accidentally stepped upon."

"You got it Prowl." Sam replied, the tactician nodded before following after the two front-liners and weapons specialist in order to stop their fight from escalating whilst the humans headed off to the recreation room unaware of how much attention their pointless and immature game would get from their alien allies.

Prowl knew he should have suspected that the little cardboard tubes he had caught Sam, Mikaela and Miles playing with in the corridor that day, would become the bane of his existence. He was not surprised in the slightest when Sideswipe discovered the little game and took every chance he could to annoy the senior staff of the base with the 'annoyin' poppin' cap of doom' (Jazz's words not his). That was until Ironhide had seized the tiny contraption and blew it to the pit and back before handing the Lamborghini his aft afterwards. The tactician was about ready to hand in his resignation from having to listen to Red Alert's paranoid fritzes about the tiny tubes and how they could easily compromise the base, the Dodge Charger figured the security director was just about as tired as he was from hearing the 'popping' noise nearly every day. Prowl was not surprised in the slightest with the younger (and dare he say immature) members of the Autobots and humans were engaging in the pointless game. He had witnessed first hand the incident regarding Major Lennox and Master Sergeant Epps a day ago. Will had jumped out of his skin when he heard the loud pop just behind him, he had been in the process of drawing his firearm when he heard his comrade laughing. The Major had spun round to glare at Epps before demanding that a chuckling Ironhide dunk the Master Sergeant in the ocean.

The tactician had just been in the process of ordering that all tubular objects especially sweet tubes be confiscated when he witnessed the next incident. Director Galloway had been visiting the base in order to tell them of the bang up job they had done in Alaska when a blue cap hit him in the back of the head, the Dodge Charger could do nothing but stare at his leader as Optimus sub-spaced the offending object quickly and placed an indifferent look upon his facial plates when the man turned to glare at the Autobot leader. Prowl had no choice but to give his commander a disapproving look before switching to Jazz and Ironhide who were sniggering beside the large red and blue mech.

Things were just beginning to settle down after that incident with the occasional tube being popped at a passing human or Autobot until the tactician stepped into the recreation room, he had intended to grab a cube of energon before heading back to his office to finish his reports. Instead he found himself dropping the data-pad he had been holding when he saw the state of chaos the rec. room was currently in, the furniture had been upturned and strategically placed around the room whilst splotches of paint had been splattered across every available surface. He immediately wondered whether the twins had started a paint ball fight again inside the base when they had strictly been told that all weapons whether harmful or not, were to be used in the firing range. That was until he spotted a little grey helm with a prominent red chevron pop up from behind the upturned couch to fire his paint covered 'weapon' across the room. Prowl had to admit that Bluestreak had incredibly good aim as the plastic cap hit Sideswipe smack centre of the forehead when he popped up from his own shelter to locate a target.

"Dad I got uncle Sides!" The tactician could hear the six year old Cybertronian youngling shout as he ducked down again, but not before he caught sight of his sire "Father!" Bluestreak scrambled out from his hiding place and ran across to the Dodge Charger, the little grey youngling wrapped himself around one of his legs immediately transferring wet paint from his plating onto his sire's. Prowl's upper lip curled up in disgust however it quickly disappeared when Bluestreak glanced up to look at him "will you come play with us?"

"Blue I can't, I have work to do." The black and white mech told his creation softly, he watched as little sensory panels drooped in disappointment.

" 'Kay." The youngling uttered as he detached himself from his father.

_:: Prowler don't be such a stick in the slag, 'sides I doubt Optimus will be readin' your reports any time soon.::_ Came Jazz's voice through their bond, Prowl frowned at that until he heard it.

_POP!_

He turned in time to see the paint covered plastic cap hit him square in the chest plates. The cap smeared red paint against the white plating before dropping down onto the floor, the tactician glanced up and glared in the direction it had been fired from. He immediately saw his leader chuckling as he sunk down behind his shelter, mischievous glint in his optics.

"Blue count me in." The Dodge Charger told his creation, the six old youngling rushed back and grabbed his father's hand and dragged him across to where Jazz and a few others were holed up, each sporting paint splotches across their armoured plating. The saboteur tossed his mate a spare tube which strangely was made out of plastic rather than cardboard, it was also bearing white marks where it had been depressed a little too hard a few times during the course of the 'battle' taking place. He knew this had to have been planned out a few days prior and wondered briefly who had acquired the plastic tubes, let alone the numerous caps laying in a paint swamped box "any particular rules I should know about?"

"Just fire your cap at the other team, the first one that runs out of tops loses." The Solstice informed his lover before he shoved himself up onto his feet and made a spectacular dive for several caps lying several metres in front of the upturned table. Instantly there were several _pops_ as the other team attempted to take Jazz out before he could manage to disappear behind cover again. The saboteur crowed his victory before Ironhide lined up a shot and hit his tube with enough force to send the plastic top flying in the Solstice's direction, the cap hit him square in the chest plates. Prowl shook his head in amusement as he watched his mate dramatically grab the supposed wound before collapsing upon the floor, he heard Bluestreak squeal with laughter at seeing his spark carrier making such a scene before quickly making his way across to where Jazz was and collecting the tops the saboteur had managed to collect before he was 'taken down'.

The tactician decided to get revenge for his mate and grabbed one of the paint soaked caps, popped it into the tube and sprung up from his cover and hit it in just the right place to send the top soaring across the expanse and hit the weapons specialist. He smirked when the Top Kick truck glared at him before he disappeared briefly to arm himself. It had escalated from there as Optimus declared 'war' on the other team after seeing Ironhide being hit, eventually the floor of the rec. room became slick with paint that running let alone walking across it became a task. Although Bluestreak quickly got bored of the game and soon discovered another form of entertaining himself when he ran then slid across the floor into an unsuspecting Sunstreaker. The youngling bounced off the gold Lamborghini and was about to run back in the direction he had come from when the front-liner grabbed him and planted him softly on his back where he began tickling his exposed right side.

"Uncle . . Sunny." The little grey mech breathed between loud peals of laughter "I give up!" Sunstreaker chuckled as he sat back on his haunches allowing a paint splattered Bluestreak to roll on his front, vents still heaving and small giggles escaping his vocaliser. The grey youngling pushed himself up onto his hands and knees before turning to sit down upon his aft, small chuckles still escaping his little frame. Bluestreak scrubbed the back of one hand over his optics leaving a streak of red paint in its wake before letting out a tired yawn.

"Someone's tired." Sideswipe said as he pushed himself up from where he had been taking cover and made his way over to where the youngling was sat with his twin.

"Am not." The little grey mech replied, refusing to allow another yawn to make its way past his lip components but failed miserably. The red front-liner smiled fondly at the youngling as he scooped him up and handed him over to Jazz as Prowl was still lying upon the ground, vents heaving after being wrestled to the ground by Optimus and Ironhide just so they could draw nonsense on his door wings and plating.

"Prowl has completely destroyed his reputation as a cold, hard aft." Came a dark rumbling voice from behind the Solstice, Jazz smiled as he turned round to face the newcomer. Bluestreak chirped and whirled, too tired to form any kind of word as he greeted the other black and white mech.

"I heard that Barricade." The tactician called out from where he was lying upon the floor. The black and white mech, although now prominently red, pushed himself up from the floor and made his way over. He clapped a hand upon the Mustang's shoulder leaving a red hand print upon his plating, the shock trooper growled at his younger sibling when he felt the transfer of paint. Bluestreak immediately perked up when he saw his father leave a prominent red mark upon his uncle and squirmed to get down. The saboteur obligingly let his creation down and watched as the youngling darted around mechs and humans before grabbing one of the buckets of paint that was now devoid of caps and rushed back. Both the police cruisers nor the Solstice knew what the little grey mechlet was up to until Bluestreak dipped his hand into the red paint and planted his hand upon the pristine black plating of Barricade's right calf, the Mustang curled his upper lip component up in disgust as the youngling began painting little pictures upon his armour.

"Right you." The shock trooper growled, Bluestreak squealed and dropped the tub full of paint and ran off giggling with Barricade in pursuit, normally the Mustang wouldn't show this playful, caring side to those around him but for the youngling he had grown close to, he would.

"I thought the runt was ready for recharge?" Ironhide asked as he approached the Solstice and the Dodge Charger as they watched their creation swiftly out manoeuvre a tackle from his uncle.

"Apparently not." Jazz replied "besides th' more energy that's run off him now, th' less we have ta do later in gettin' 'im inta his berth." The weapons specialist chuckled at that as he kept watchful optics upon the little grey mechlet who had found a temporary safe harbour behind Optimus who was also watching the youngling very closely.

"What in God's name?" A voice called from the doorway. All those present in the room turned to see Director Galloway stood in the doorway with Secretary of Defence Keller stood on his left and General Morshower on his right, both men behind the Director couldn't help but gape at first when they saw the scene before them. But knew despite the mess, both human and Autobot alike hadn't had the chance to wind down in a little while and what better way to do it then engage in a little carnage? Major Lennox and Master Sergeant Epps emerged from their hiding place sporting splotches of blue paint, their presence immediately garnering the attention of Galloway however both men met the glare the Director was sending them with one of their own "care to explain?"

Lennox and Epps glanced at one another "Nope." "Nah." & "My brains gone on vacation and refuses to come back just to tell you the obvious." "Can't do that Sir, our giant alien friends have been instructed to step on us if we talk." Were a few combinations of responses Galloway got from the pair of them.

"Galloway . . . go shove a gasket in it." Optimus said as he 'accidentally' stepped upon a plastic tube that was oh so conveniently armed and pointed in the Director's direction. The audible _POP_ was the only warning Galloway got before the cap covered in red paint hit him in the stomach, effectively doubling the man over. Every human and Autobot stared at the Prime who simply offered them an innocent look in return "whoops sorry my bad."

"You!" The Director snapped as he glared at the semi Peter-built truck, both Sec. of Def. Keller and Gen. Morshower began chuckling behind him which earned them a glare from Galloway. Neither of them reined in their laughter as the man picked up the broken shards of his pride and stormed out of the room.

"General, Secretary of Defence I . . apologise for the mess." Optimus began as he glanced down when he felt an incessant tugging upon his calf armour, he smiled when Bluestreak thrust his arms up asking to be picked up. The Prime obliged him and scooped the youngling up and settled him in the crook of his left elbow.

"There's no harm in you all wanting to unwind, but did it have to involve paint?" John Keller inquired with a smile still curling his lips.

"I believe a certain youngling is responsible for that." The semi Peter-built replied as he glanced down at the little grey mechlet who was just making himself comfortable in his arms, Bluestreak chirped and whistled at the human, now too tired to answer the accusation with words "we'll have it cleared up John as quickly as possible."

"I know you will." Keller replied as he watched as couple of the Autobots sling some paint at one another before Ironhide yelled at them to stop misbehaving and start setting the room straight "who won by the way."

Optimus glanced around the room "Now that you mention it, I honestly don't know." He began trailing fingertips down the back of Bluestreak's helm, lulling the youngling into recharge.

"We'll call it a tie fer now boss bot." Jazz said as he made his way over, a smile curling the edges of his lip components when he saw his creation happily tucked in the large bot's arms, deep in recharge. Optimus handed the little grey mechlet to his spark carrier who tucked the slumbering youngling close to his chassis "I better get th' tyke inta recharge."

"Not tired." Bluestreak grumbled in his sleep as he was carried out of the recreation room by his spark carrier. The Prime chuckled at the little grey mechlet's parting words, Bluestreak would always deny he was tired even though his frame clearly showed otherwise unless of course he was fully awake and his parents were trying to get him back to quarters to recharge.

"Alright everyone let's get this room tidy." The semi Peter-built said, he heard collective groans around the room before both human and Autobots alike began setting the furniture right and removing wet and slowly drying paint splotches from the surfaces they were on. Sideswipe had made a comment about how he felt he was being punished for something he hadn't done whilst scrubbing paint patches off the concrete floor, Prowl had happily told him that since he had started this whole fiasco a few days ago regardless of the fact he knew the young humans were technically to blame. The red Lamborghini had grumbled under his breath before launching a soaked sponge at his brother who had told him to either shut up or he would hand him his aft, it had quickly dissolved into a brief water fight until Optimus threatened to assign the twins cleaning duties if they didn't behave themselves.

It didn't take long for the recreation room to be restored to order although there were a few red and blue paint strains upon the furniture, but at least it didn't look as though someone had thrown a paint bomb in the room. Prime had disappeared at some point during the clear up stating that he had 'an important call to make', however Prowl suspected that his leader was just finding an excuse so he didn't have to help out. Barricade had slipped out of the room and disappeared, but the tactician knew that the only time the shock trooper stayed at the Autobot base was when Bluestreak wanted to spend time with his uncle. The lack of the Mustang's presence at the base had caused suspicion at first although Barricade really couldn't go very far now that they were on an island in the middle of the Indian ocean. But that didn't stop the whispers that he could have been contacting his former comrades, however the Dodge Charger had informed them that all of the shock trooper's weapons, communications and tracking devices had been disabled when he had fallen into their custody a few years back.

Prowl slipped out of the recreation room half way through the clean up undetected as he knew that if he wasn't there to say goodnight to Bluestreak, then the youngling would never go to sleep. He quickly made his way through the intersecting hallways back to quarters and stepped inside once he had input the code into the panel, his plating was just beginning to itch now that the red paint covering it was starting to dry and flake off. The tactician made his way through the main living space and was about a couple of feet away from his creation's room when spark-mate's end of the bond opened up.

_:: Don't even think about it Prowler, get cleaned up then ya can say good night ta Blue.:: _Jazz scolded him over their link, the black and white mech shook his head. Sometimes he could curse his mate's acute hearing as the saboteur could tell exactly where he was in their private quarters, he turned on his heel and headed to the wash rack where he quickly cleaned up, well as much as he could before he stepped back out into the main living space and made his way over to the little grey mechlet's room again. However when he poked his head inside, he noticed the lack of his offspring's presence and knew there was only one place he could be. The Dodge Charger turned and headed across to his own room and glanced inside and smiled at the scene before him, the Solstice was sat upon their berth with his back against the wall whilst Bluestreak was using his lap as a pillow.

Jazz glanced up and returned his mate's smile _::He wanted ta wait up fer you, but recharge kinda won out.:: _Prowl crossed the room and knelt down beside the berth and reached out with one of his clawed hands, he smoothed it over the top of Bluestreak's helm and watched as the youngling stirred before settling back into recharge.

_::Do you want me to . . . ?:: _The tactician began as he pushed himself up and sat on the edge of the berth.

_::Nah he's fine where he is besides its not very often we let 'im stay in our berth.:: _The saboteur replied as he shifted to lay down upon his side, the little grey mechlet grumbled at his spark carrier in his sleep but did not fully online as he too moved to tuck himself in closer to his daddy, the black and white mech smiled at that as he shifted to lay down upon his side. As a sparkling they had often allowed Bluestreak to sleep in their berth with them, but as he got older he spent less and less time with his creators when it came to recharge.

_::Very true.:: _Prowl replied as he settled down ready for recharge _:: one thing has been bugging me though.::_

Jazz glanced at him ::_Oh what's that?::_

_::Who started the paint war?:: _The tactician asked.

The saboteur chuckled as he off-lined his optics _::Blue did, he saw Sam, Mickey an' Miles playin' with some cardboard tubes th' other day in th' top hangar.::_ The Dodge Charger groaned inwardly at that, so the young adults had moved their game, only to inadvertently introduce their 'game' to one of the most curious minds upon the base _:: then of course add Sideswipe ta th' mix, then chaos just ensued.::_

_:: It always does once Sideswipe sticks his olfactory sensor where it doesn't belong.:: _Prowl replied _:: I just hope it will be the last I'll ever see of those infernal tubes.::_

_:: Ya gotta admit though it was fun.:: _The Solstice said, the tactician hummed in response which had his mate chuckling_ :: sleep love.::_

Bluestreak suddenly shifted in his recharge that drew the attention of both of his creators, the Solstice and the Dodge Charger glanced down at their creation who was gazing up at them with sleepy blue optics "Daddy, father tryin' ta sleep." He grumbled at them.

"Sorry baby." The silver mech replied as he traced clawed hands down the back of his son's helm lulling him back to sleep _:: looks like we've been told off fer yappin'.:: _

Prowl met his gaze and smiled before settling himself down ready for recharge _:: Then we should follow our son's example and get an early night.::_ Jazz hummed in agreement before finally shutting down each of his systems and entering his recharge cycle swiftly followed by his bonded. Although he could not help but detect the amusement in his mate's thoughts that they had been ordered to go to sleep by their creation before he succumbed to the blissful blackness of recharge.

A/N: okay this little fic was spawned during a writer's block for Renascentia, and after my rebellious younger sister who decided that she didn't want to wait until Xmas to have her sweets, began firing off the top to the tube they were in just to amuse herself and annoy me. Then the plot bunny attacked when my other little sister wondered what would happen if Transformers were just as immature as teenagers and had nothing to amuse themselves with other than a small cardboard tube, so this one shot was her fault entirely. And I bet you didn't expect Barricade? Potential spoiler for Renascentia? Well you'll just have to see.


End file.
